Whittaker Corp

A division of Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp. has received a contract for 143 improved flow-control valves to be installed on a fleet of DC-8 cargo jets operated by United Parcel Service. The new anti-icing valves are produced by the company's Whittaker Controls division. They will replace original valves made by Whittaker 30 years ago.

Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp. said it agreed to sell its defense electronics unit in Simi Valley to San Jose-based Condor Systems Inc. for undisclosed terms. The proceeds of the sale, expected to occur by the end of this month, will be used to reduce debt, said Charles Barrantes, Whittaker's chief financial officer. "It just fits with our strategic plan for growth and acquisitions," said Condor spokesman Dave Klingler. The unit to be sold employs 100 of Whittaker's estimated 1,000 employees.

Whittaker Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Joseph F. Alibrandi has told an investment banker bidding for the firm that he is still considering all alternatives. Last week, Michael E. Tennenbaum made a $208-million unsolicited bid to acquire Whittaker, an aerospace parts company in Simi Valley, for $18.50 a share. Tennenbaum, along with two other principals at Tennenbaum & Co., his private investment firm in Los Angeles, owns nearly 5% of the Whittaker stock.

Whittaker Corp. in Simi Valley reported significant losses for both the fourth quarter and the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31. The net loss for the quarter was $8.18 million, or 74 cents per share. The company had a net income of $4.23 million, or 44 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Oct. 31, 1995. Sales for the most recent quarter were $67.69 million, compared with $56.76 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 1995. For fiscal year 1996, the net loss was $17.12 million, or $1.

A subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Whittaker Corp. and two former executives pleaded guilty today to charges they bribed a Marine Corps contracting official to increase the value of Pentagon electronic contracts their company obtained. Whittaker Command and Control Systems pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government and two counts of bribing former Marine Corps official Jack Sherman with nearly $75,000 between 1982 and 1988. The Whittaker subsidiary agreed to pay $3.

Those who haven't paid attention to the goings-on at Simi Valley's Whittaker Corp. over the past year may not immediately recognize the diversified high-tech company. Once completely focused on the aerospace and defense industries, Whittaker has made a big dent in the communications field of late. And last week's acquisition of Xyplex Inc., a communications networking operation previously owned by the Massachusetts-based Raytheon Co.

Whittaker Electronics Systems of Simi Valley was recently awarded a $1.6-million contract to provide communications equipment for Apache attack helicopters used by the United Arab Emirates. The Wideband Secure Voice and Data Encryption systems will allow pilots to communicate in code with their ground crew. Whittaker Electronics, a division of Whittaker Corp. in Simi Valley, has manufactured about 300 similar communication systems for the U.S. government since the early 1980s.

Developers of a planned housing project on the site of a former munitions factory said Monday that state environmental officials have reduced from 76 to eight the number of sites on the parcel classified as contaminated, which the company said shows that a cleanup is possible. James Schultz, director of business development for Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp.

The state Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that 51 contaminated areas exist on the site of a former munitions factory slated to become a housing development, contesting an assertion by the developer this week that the EPA had reduced the number to eight. After the EPA announcement, officials of Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp., which owns the 996 acres in Saugus, said their claim was misunderstood.